Hooker (L.A. Liaisons Book 2) (19 page)

Ryleigh pulled away from Hunter then, and whispered, “Hey, I didn’t get a chance to ask you if you were bringing a
plus one
tonight.” Careful emphasis on the “plus one.”
 

Poor girl; she must not have clued her man in to the whole
Shayne and two guys thing
, even if she didn’t quite know the whole reason for that yet. So far, Paige hadn’t peeped a word.
 

“Uh, no,
Ace
is out of the country shooting a commercial for a few days, so he won’t be able to make it. But I’ll be relaxing later at home.”
With Nate.
Read between those lines.
 

“Ohh yeah, okay. I guess it makes sense Dimples couldn’t come to this.”

“Bingo.” I looked past her shoulder to where Val was cozying up to one of the male clients, and shook my head. “Looks like I’ve got to make an intervention, but you lovebirds have fun.”

As I moved through the crowd, I briefly checked in with those I passed, and since we’d already done the icebreakers, it looked like most everyone had split off into mixed groups or were paired up on the dance floor. So far, low maintenance…with my boss being the exception.

She was laughing loudly, her head thrown back, and it did nothing to hide her paid-for double-Ds. She was practically falling out of the low-cut scarlet cocktail dress she was squeezed into, and her hand was clinging to one of the poor twenty-somethings I’d interviewed just last week. He smiled along with her, but his eyes darted around like he was trying to come up with an escape plan.
 

“Andrew, so glad you made it,” I said as I came up to the bar and placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. “I was hoping to introduce you to Donna. She just moved here from St. Augustine, so I thought you guys might have a few friends in common.” I nodded at the gorgeous woman with dark, creamy skin on the other side of the bar. “Or maybe you could start things off by buying her a drink?”

The relief on his face was evident as he looked in Donna’s direction.
 

“Oh damn. Yeah, thanks, Shayne, I’ll do that.” Then he gave Val a tight smile. “If you’ll excuse me, I should go say hi. It was nice to meet you, Ms. Barberie.”
 

I moved out of the way so he could effectively escape Val’s clutches, and when he was out of earshot, I heard a slow clap behind me and turned back to face Val.

“You,” Val said, pinning me with a glare, “are a cockblock.” Her words slurred on the ends, and her red lipstick had completely come off except for the liner. If you looked up “hot mess” in the Urban Dictionary, Val’s face would take up the whole page.
 

“This is what you pay me for. To match up our clients successfully. No matches, no clients.”

Val snorted. “I don’t pay you to run off the herd. You’re not a herderer. Herdman. Herder of… Ah, shit. Whatever it is. If you see a pretty penis sitting here, hands the fuck off, capeesh?”

“Noted.”
 

“Good.” Then she flagged the bartender and held up her empty martini glass. “Another of these and then something to thaw out Shayne’s tight ass.”

The bartender, whom I recognized as Ryleigh’s right-hand woman Zoe, raised an eyebrow, and I gave a slight shake of my head. Someone in this place had to stay sober, and it wasn’t gonna be my lush of a boss.

“Are you still here? Don’t you have a dingo to catch? A croc to mount?” she grumbled when another drink slid her way.
 

Clenching my jaw shut so I didn’t say anything I’d regret, I backed away before turning and then promptly stumbled into something hard—or some
one
, rather, who caught me by the arms. And that something hard was…Nate.

“Oh fuck, what are you— I mean, uh, hi.”
And shiiiiit. What the hell is he doing here? But…I’m glad he’s here, but… Oh hell.
 

I couldn’t be seen with Nate. Some of our clients had already heard through the grapevine about Ace and had asked me if he’d be attending tonight. So if they saw us together, like
together
together, that would be…really fucking bad.
 

“Hey, are you okay?” His brow furrowed as he looked over my shoulder at Val and then back at me. “Please tell me that’s not your boss.”

“Boss? Who? Oh, right. She’s lovely, isn’t she?”

“Is she drunk or does she always say that shit to you?”

I shrugged. “Worse when under the influence, but nothing that surprises me.”

“That’s not fucking okay, Shayne.”

“It’s fine. Hey.” I moved my face into his line of sight, and his eyes snapped to mine. Then I smiled. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

“You’re changing the subject.”

“Yes, I am,” I said, nodding. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
 

I won’t lie. Half of me was giddy as hell, even as the other half was panicking that he might try to kiss me in public. We’d been seeing each other for a few weeks, but during that time it’d been relatively easy to spend time together since, thankfully, he was a homebody like me. The few times we’d gone out, I’d bundled my hair up into a hat and wrapped a bunch of scarves around my neck, but no one had paid attention to us. Paige’s accessories had been a godsend.
 

“Is this okay? Me being here?” he asked. “I know you’re working, but I’ve never seen you in action, and I couldn’t wait until later.”

“Yeah, yeah, of course. You just surprised me, is all. I’m glad you’re here.” Then I took a step back to get a good look at him, mostly so I wouldn’t wrap my arms around him and kiss the hell out of him. And that was some serious self-restraint, because he was dressed impeccably in a tailored black suit, the collar undone and open, and he’d gone scruffy just for me. Who could resist a man with scruff? Not me. “You look… Wow. Seriously hot. I hate that I’m gonna have to cover you up.”
 

“You mean this?” Grinning, he held up the black and blue mask in his hand. “I just wanted you to see my face so you didn’t think I was some stranger running his hands all over you.”
 

“Too bad. I love when strangers grope me.”
 

“Well, I can make that happen too.” After donning his mask, he reached out and pulled me toward him as if to kiss me, and I had put my hands on his chest to slow his roll.
 

“Oh, sorry. I guess you’re in professional mode now, huh?” he said.

“Yes, that’s exactly it.”
No, not just that. I’m a horrible, horrible person.
 

I hated holding back from him. Hated that he would hate me when he found out, because God knew if I didn’t find someone more permanent to cover for Ace soon, it was bound to get out. And I couldn’t let that happen. But finding someone had proved to be trickier than I’d expected, since I couldn’t flat-out tell them what they’d be signing up for.
 

I didn’t know how to fix the situation, and Val wasn’t helping, since she wasn’t the lead on the assignment, Ace had no suggestions, and his team had clearly stated that it was my job and they were too busy still doing damage control, even though the paparazzi had faded since the coming-out announcement had proven to be a “fake.” From what I’d heard, most of the people in those tabloids were celebrities who tipped off the paps anyway, so thankfully it’d been a quiet couple of weeks—not that I planned to stop sneaking around and wearing disguises in the meantime.

God…that sounds so bad when I say it like that.

“No problem. I’m more than happy to stare at your ass all night, since I can’t see your face.” His gaze trailed down my sequined black dress that hit mid-thigh—Val forced us all to wear short dresses tonight; it wasn’t my idea—and he whistled in appreciation. “Pantsless again tonight, I see. I’m glad I decided to crash the party after all.”

My stomach flip-flopped under his inspection, the same as it always did when he was around.
 

“I would’ve worn it later for you,” I said with a shy smile. “Unless there was another bloody knee incident, which is still entirely possible.”

“Didn’t stop you before.”
 

“So. Wanna grab a drink and come make rounds with me?”

“Hell yes I do.”
 

After Zoe slid a pink virgin beverage for me and a blue one for Nate across the bar, we made our way around the room, stopping to check in with everyone, see how things were going. Ask a few questions to get the ball rolling if they were standing there staring at each other. Pushed a few out to the dance floor. Nate was charming, per usual, and I was grateful he had on a mask so I wouldn’t have to see all the ogling once they caught sight of his face.
 

Eventually we settled on the opposite side of the bar from Val, but still within eyesight so I could see when she was done for the night. Or when she decided to fall off the martini glass barstool.
 

Nate kept his body facing the bar and leaned on his clasped hands. “So we’ve got to be inconspicuous, huh?”

“Mhmm, we do.”
 

“So I shouldn’t tell you I’d like to take off your—”

I slapped my hand across his mouth before he could finish that thought. When I let go, he gave me a cheeky grin. And then said, “Mask.”

Laughing, I shook my head. “I don’t think that’s what you were going to say.”

“It was. I’m on my best behavior this evening.”

“That’s too bad,” I said, pulling a small Post-it pad from my cleavage. Nate’s eyes went wide.

“Have I mentioned I love that you keep stuff in your bra? Holy shit it’s hot.”

When I pulled out a pen too, he leaned over to get a glimpse down my shirt.
 

“Jesus, what else do you have in there?” he asked.

“Sometimes my phone. What can I say? It’s like the never-ending Mary Poppins carpetbag in bra form.” On the Post-it I wrote:
Maybe I’ll let you get a peek later.
Then I pushed the pad and pen his way.
 

“Ohh, this is tenth grade all over again. Awesome.” He peeled off the note and then scribbled a quick line before pushing it my way.

Or maybe I could just tear it off with my teeth.

Such an animal. Is that where you’d start?

Fuck no. You’re wearing a dress. It would be orgasms on the dance floor all over again.

I’ll settle for the bedroom.

Or the kitchen?

Possibly the shower…

Nate coughed and adjusted his pants. “Fuck.” Then:
Did I mention you look stunning?

With my face all covered up?
I wrote, grinning.

Can’t a guy give a compliment?

I’d prefer the orgasm.
 

Singular?

Plural. Multiples.

“Oh hell, hang on.” Val was teetering, and I quickly shoved the notes in my top and rounded the bar. Nate was hot on my heels, and we got to her just in time to keep her upright and not flashing her bum to everyone.

“I already called the cab,” Ryleigh said, coming to stand beside me and grabbing Val’s purse from the bar.
 

“What the fuck do I need a fucking cab for?” Val said, patting her sides as if she had pockets there, and then she pointed at me and slurred, “And where the fuck are my fucking keys? If someone steals my car, you’re fired.”
 

“I’ll make sure no one steals the Lexus,” I said, before mouthing
Thank you
to Ryleigh. Then I took a hold of Val’s arm as she wobbled to her feet.

“And these masks are fucking stupid.” Val dropped hers to the ground and went to step on it but missed by about a foot. That didn’t stop her from stomping around until she nailed it.

“Okay, I think it’s dead.”
 

With Nate holding her other side, we helped Val through the throng of guests, many of whom barely looked our way, either too engrossed in conversation, or too used to bars where it was common to haul out the drunkards.

Really super great for business. If only she’d kept her damn mask on.

The cab was, thankfully, already at the curb, and Ryleigh took a few bills out of Val’s wallet and gave them to the driver before tossing the purse in the backseat.

“She’s at 1440 Miller Drive,” I said, tucking Val’s legs into the backseat, but she pushed me off.

“I got it, I got it. I can buckle my fucking self, Jesus.” She attempted to do just that five times, the buckles clinking, before finally giving up and throwing them down.
 

“See you Monday. Drink some water.”
 

Val’s eyes narrowed. “Stop with the mama routine, hooker. I don’t need a fucking teat to suck. And why the hell are you always dressed like it’s a funeral, for fuck’s sake—”

I slammed the cab door shut and waved off the driver before she could spew out any more trash in front of Nate.
 

Damn she’d gotten vile lately. When had that happened? She’d always spouted off, but there was humor behind it.
But now?
She made that “no more wire hangers” broad look like a classy bitch.

“I’m not believing you deal with that every day,” Nate said, his eyes tracking me warily.

“Believe it. I should’ve taken more money out of her wallet as a tip,” Ryleigh said, and then did a double take. “Oh hey…Nate. You made it.”
 

He put his arm around my waist, and then caught sight of people exiting the After Dark and stepped back. “Yeah, I wanted to surprise Shayne. Great place you have here.”

“Thank you. And…excellent surprise?” She looked at me in question.

I nodded and smiled. “Definitely.”

“Okay, well…I’m gonna go find Hunter.” Ryleigh ducked back into Licked, and I turned to face Nate.

“Thank you. And I’m sorry about that.”

“Nothing to be sorry for.”

“So…best, most romantic Valentine’s Day ever, right?”
 

“It’s been an interesting one so far, that’s for sure.” Then he leaned over so that his lips were by my ear and said, “But don’t worry. I’ll make sure you get what you deserve. And I think I’ll start by removing those notes in your bra one by one.”